Last Tuesday, 18th of October, BIOPAMA organized an online event to present the added value of the Regional Resource Hub (RRH) and its contribution for the collection, the production and the dissemination of information for decision-making at local, national and global levels, enabling the effective monitoring of the Convention's post 2020 biodiversity framework of Biodiversity (CBD) in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Ms Christine Mentzel, BIOPAMA Program Coordinator for Eastern and Southern Africa, IUCN opened the event explaining that BIOPAMA has been active in the region for almost 10 years, aiming to improve management and governance in protected and conserved areas across the region through three main focus areas:  the development of a Regional Observatory or Resource Hub that collates, analyses and provides data and information on status and progress of management and governance in PCAs; and training – on data management and analysis, as well as assessment tools and technical skills on management and governance and lastly, through action on the ground to improve management and governance – through the BIOPAMA Action Component. Collectively, these three pillars combine to make tangible progress in supporting countries in achieving fair and effective protected and conserved areas. 

Mr Erie Tamale, Senior Programme Management Officer, Head, Capacity Building and Knowledge Management from  the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat (CBD) shared about the Global Biodiversity Framework working group process, approach and its theory of change. He informed that COP 15 is expected to consider SBI Recommendation 3/8 : (i) Adopt a long-term strategic framework for capacity building and development to support implementation of the post 2020 GBF and
(ii) to Invite Parties to use the guidance in the strategic framework for the design and implementation of their own capacity building and development initiatives.

Dr Emmanuel Nkurunziza, the Director General of Regional Centre for the Mapping of Resource for Development (RCMRD), the regional host institution of the Regional Resource Hub spoke about the RCMRD vision followed by Ngugi Kimani who deepened the explanation on the RRH mandate and services available to support the monitoring of the new framework such as country profiles, knowledge products such as SOPACA and The Reference Information Systems (RRIS).

Mr Trevor Sandwith, Director of the IUCN Centre for Conservation Action advocated in favor of the  Regional Observatories as an effective partnership in support to the post 2020 framework. He emphasized the need to :

• Ensure that regional observatories include all of the relevant information to support decision-mkaing for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework 
• Make sure that national focal points for the Convention on Biological Diversity are aware of and support the use of the information in the regional observatories 
• Ensure that national delegations call for ambitious targets and quality measures at OEWG 5 in June 2022 in Nairobi and at COP15 later this year 
• Track and measure performance on key indicators using the BIOPAMA Regional Reference Information Systems
• Build capacity to implement the key actions required.